Unfortunately, the weather placed a bit of a dampener on the Geelong Revival this year with the unprecedented run of hot dry days coming to an abrupt end on Sunday morning. This created wet track conditions for both the sprint and hillclimb until everything dried out later in the afternoon.
Several incidents at both venues on Saturday also slowed proceedings whilst damaged cars were recovered and safety barriers reinstated. An Audi RS7 achieved the second fastest time of the day on Saturday, but failed to brake at the end of the quarter mile. The car hit the first row of water-filled safety barriers in the braking area at warp speed causing it to flip before collecting the second and third rows of barriers, finally coming to rest perched on top of the final barriers up against a strategically located truck. Luckily the driver was OK, but the car was a write off.
Unfortunately, things didn?t go well for David Anderson and his MGB at the hillclimb venue. His engine suffered a dropped valve on Saturday?s practice run putting him out of contention and relegating him to spectator status for the rest of the weekend. Jane Vollebregt fared much better in her MGB, she was placed second in class after the three runs on Saturday. Rain on Sunday morning meant that her position remained secure until a dry track later in the day may have shuffled the leader board ? final results were not available at the time of writing.
Graeme Hollingsworth (E-type) and Steve Schmidt (Marcos) contested the quarter-mile sprints again this year. The wet track made traction off the start line a little difficult, but the main concern was hauling the cars down in the braking area with plenty of wet, slippery white lines and a man-hole cover to contend with. The first two runs were wet, the third was patchy, but by the final run all drivers had had a dry track and both Graeme and Steve clocked their fastest times. Graeme?s 14.69 sec. run placed him fifth in class, whilst Steve?s 15.71 was enough to win the small capacity Sports Car class.
It was good to see Mike Whitford and his Fiat Abarth Spider participating in the Fiat Club display, as well as several other members and friends in the crowd which was down somewhat on previous years due to the wet weather.
Production Sports Cars 1941-1972 no logbook 4001cc and over
1 Gary Ball Shelby Daytona Replica 5690 0:13.1815
2 Stephen O’Neill Ford Cobra Replica 5000 0:13.9022
3 Nicholas Heath Jensen Interceptor 1 7200 0:14.2383
4 Harry Green AC Cobra Replica 6300 0:14.2506
5 Graeme Hollingsworth Jaguar E Type 1967 4200 0:14.6950
6 Sean Blood Chevrolet Corvette 5700 0:15.5027
7 Mick Hone FIA (R) Cobra Replica 4900 0:15.5214
8 Michael Armstrong Chevrolet Corvette 6489 0:15.5653
Production Sports Cars 1941-1972 no logbook up to 2000cc
1 Stephen Schmidt Mini Marcos 1967 1275 0:15.7173
2 Laura Rogers Lotus Europa 1972 1558 0:16.1852
3 Paul Stewart Renault 17TS 1974 1596 0:16.3116
4 Barry McAdie Renault Alpine A110 1300 0:16.7527
5 Norman May Porsche 356 1960 1600 0:18.1588
6 Doug Keith MG TC 1949 1250 0:19.5880